cooked

I would be asking the question ... do you have access to water all year round?
.

We do not really have access to water all year round and nobody can tell me why there are no boreholes for irrigation in the region. So one crop a year means that we cultivate jasmine rice which gets a better price but lower yield. Last year we got about 380kg/rai (in 80kg sacks, strewth).

If I remember correctly, there are dashed white lines around the perimeter of the roundabout indicating that people entering the roundabout do not have right of way. Not that it makes any difference.

Flashing Headlights is good to keep from running down bikes that think they can u-turn without giving the right of way to oncoming traffic.

Flashers to warn you is not a bad thing.

Headlights unless it's pitch black outside is a strange one - maybe they think they are saving energy?

Missing brake lights - endemic and not apparently on high list of priorities of authorities - although very dangerous.

You will see police cars driving in conditions of bad visibility with only their sidelights (these should be named parking lights, they have nothing to do with making yourself visible, you see the car before you see the lights). If you are lucky the I-spy book of Thai driving' will have a 'police car with only one sidelight working driving too fast in rain and fog' page to tick off.

He paid for noodles with 'a card'? Difficult to believe. I can't even use my card in BigC if the sum is under ฿1000.- .

Three thousand two hundred and fourteen posts, and never been to a foodcourt in Thailand where you buy a prepaid card to purchase food.

I'm guessing you don't get out too much?

I'm not ashamed to say that I don't go into food courts, last time was two years ago. I forgot about the 'card' system, although the last time we went we got a piece of paper, not a card. Isn't it great to have someone to sneer at now and again?

He paid for noodles with 'a card'? Difficult to believe. I can't even use my card in BigC if the sum is under ฿1000.- .

The most obvious, natural place in the world to sit is, ... wait for it... on the floor!

In our part of Isaan the food is placed on the wooden platform that everyone has and people sit on the platform as well they can. They also sleep on the platform, prepare food and nurse babies there. We have a merit ceremony tomorrow and there are, I think, 6 of these platforms in a row, four of which are borrowed. If there is a lot of food people will have no problem with sitting on the ground.

We usually cook ourselves when we go on a journey with other family members (many Thais hate street food, especially rice farmers that know what good rice is) and this means we sit on the floor in the hotel bedroom.

We have a nice dining table but usually you finish up on the floor as all junk gets dumped on there.

 

This one sums up what I hate about what has happened to music in Thailand.

No I dont believe it does, I guess you can find anything in any music it all depends where you look .

For every video such as the above, I can post one as the one below

[media]

[media]

And both types are Morlam music. Mine was more Morlam dance. Once, you're familiar with living in Isaan, you'll find those events in all villages, cities, towns...

Cheers-

You may have missed my point. I was very much into the folk music and dance scene for 40 years and used to get a bit annoyed when perfectly good songs got modernised, synthesised, had their cadence rhythm mucked about with and otherwise made unrecognisable.

Folks music is (or should be) about someone singing or playing music from the heart. As soon as a modern group gets together and gets a piece of music into their repertoire, repeating it a 1000 times to make it perfect, it loses its soul. The same with dance, most of the stuff you see on tv has been stylised to death. (Exceptions: dances that don't claim to be folk danses).

So you will get a group on stage, a piece of pre-recorded music is played, I think, ah something fine is coming up and then they plunge into some electronic fantasy 'based on the original'. And the stuff that has been around for generations is laughed at and retreats even further into obscurity. In the village here they tend to prefer the music as in in the second video to the first.

There must be more to it.......

Morlam in my wife's village near Sisaket

This one sums up what I hate about what has happened to music in Thailand.

This one is my favorite -- no slick studio production. No producer.

Dancing sitting down. Now that's what I call sensible.

There must be some regulations or customs. We had a still born child in the family and it  was buried in a distant corner and given a grave. The monks did perform a ceremony. I just googled 'cremation Thailand' and got a list of Thai funeral directors. Why not contact one and ask?

A lot of negativity on this thread. The guy is trying to work out if he can live his dream now rather than later. If it was me it would be kids first, leave them in English schools and combine this with annual visits to Thailand. I myself am in the opposite situation in that until our stint of parenting is finished here we can't go back home!

Anyway I would never ask for advice of this type here it really up to the OP to decide, I think he knows already.

What's Isaan? Maybe you mean Lao? There can't be many movies in Isaan Lao dialect. They speak Cambodian in the next village to us....

 

Mostly a good road especially the last bit. A bit long for one day, You can think about staying in Ratachasima but there are plenty of resorts along the way.

 

Approximately 600 km and YES it is drivable  in about 10 hours. All things considered excellent roads for Thailand. Most of your trip will be on duel lain motorways. If you want to stop for the night do. I drive up to 1000km in 12 to 14 hour days.

 

Well yes, I can do that also and have done recently. However 14 hours of driving isn't fun and after about 8 hours you are on longer concentrating as you should be . Wife and kids? If I look round and see them beside me then the idea of 14 hours driving doesn't seem like a good idea. 

 

Although I do not use myself a keyguard code seems to be an option even on my cheap Nokia 101 so suspect any cheap phone could be used for your purpose (only having the function/menu keys available to call programmed numbers. 

Thanks, what I need is a phone with Fixed Dialling Numbers settings apparently. You put me on the right track.

I married a girl 10 years younger and got landed with a grandchild, that we love to bits. Ok up to now but I am now 66 and maybe won't be seeing the results of her education as she is very bright. I have no idea how things will turn out for her but I want her to do at least some schooling in Europe, which complicates things. The girls here just have kids all over the pace, difficult to keep track sometimes, it's a part of life. They are sometimes used as a lever to extract money from their fathers, but that doesn't have to be the case. Up to you, do you want kids or not, do you have the energy and finances to look after them?

Mostly a good road especially the last bit. A bit long for one day, You can think about staying in Ratachasima but there are plenty of resorts along the way.

More than a few times we have turned up at school and either waited 30 minutes or find out that our brat has been waiting for an hour. Let's say the school isn't all too communicative.

If I could find a simple, robust phone that can only be used for calling, say, 4 or 5 numbers, things might get easier. I tried google for an app or phone that would have automatically limited usage but I was probably using the wrong search terms. I'm sure I read about a phone somewhere...?

I read about a guy's bagpipes being destroyed.

If anything has been abducted. it was common sense.

I'm sorry to have been a little abrupt but Lyme is a very complicated disease with a political issue.

If you read the bit about Chronic disease on cdc they call it post Lyme Syndrome

 

In some cases, these can last for more than 6 months. Although often called "chronic Lyme disease," this condition is properly known as "Post-treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome" (PTLDS).

 

Which makes all the difference and allows health insurance companies to deny refund to their patients.

 

For the moment every country except Germany has followed the American board advice and refuses to treat thousands of very sick and dying patients. This is why CDC literature is not a reliable source of info. For better information you should watch the movie: Under our skin

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JgR_Jfbhv8

 

 

It explains how the American Board was infiltrated by insurance companies to say that there is no such thing as Chronic Lyme disease.

I know most websites only mention ticks as a vector to just make the message clearer as it is a complicated disease, but ticks are just one of many vectors.

http://www.stopthelymelies.com/lyme-disease-101/transmission-controversies

 

Anyway, in doubt I definitely think the OP should get treatment asap. A few weeks of antibiotics even as prevention, is nothing compared to what he might be facing.

 

I hate to say this... looks like you are right, I thought that this was just conspiracy stuff.

 

Bobae is a bit hit and miss. Last time we went (you have to go EARLY) we bought large quantities of vests, t shirts and pants, socks, really cheap as well as dresses I think the vendors go around the factories and buy seconds. A few Farangs around, not many were buying. I know that many provincial markets buy stuff here.

Lyme disease is rare in Thailand and especially southern Thailand and is usually transmitted by the deer tick, which I haven't seen in Thailand yet. We have no reason to think that the guy has Lyme disease, so I wonder why some posters are now assuming that he has. If you check the symptoms, a rash or 'bruise' like this appears only after a few days.

I have occasionally been bitten by ticks as has my wife who seems to attract them. One time the spot was slightly inflamed and itched for months but nothing like this.

Anyway, like the other poster, I go for sand fly, maybe a spider, some of the images on Google look very similar.,

Apparently the juice contained acoustic soda according to PBS. Love it.